Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Cooking Asparagus, Vacations, Sharks,

I am always looking for new recipes and I checked a book on vegetables that I have had since time began. Never looked at it much and certainly not for asparagus. Not a bad recipe in there, but it tells you how to cook asparagus. Tie it up in a bundle, stand upright (heads out of water) and boil for 25 minutes. Horrors, 25 minutes what on earth would you have at the end of that time? Mush? I have tried cooking them standing upright but I wasn't impressed. 3 minutes in boiling water seems to work very well for me. 25 minutes, can't get over it.

We hear the temperature in North Carolina is 106°F at the moment. No wonder some people aren't

stepping outside. I would be glued to the air conditioning. We were in Pennsylvania once in our travel trailer and it was 103°F. All the people on the campsite were taking their chairs and sitting in the stream keeping their feet wet - until someone saw a snake. I can't remember if that was the time when we didn't even have a/c in the car. We drove the New Jersey turnpike and had to keep the windows shut because we were surrounded by traffic, particularly trucks, and the air was horrendous but then it was pretty horrendous inside the car too. Not necessarily on the same trip you understand. We used to spend a fair amount of time at the beach. Today I would not go into the water. These recent shark attacks happened in relatively shallow water. A friend said she was going to the beach for the 4th I recommended she and her family stay out of the water. It really isn't worth it. I gather the sharks are migrating at the moment and this is part of the trouble, I've also heard they are evacuating the beaches.

Wednesday is league bowling again, It seems such a long time since last Thursday.

This recipe was demonstrated on local TV (Canada AM) the other day and featured a chef called Rose Murray who buys her asparagus from Barrie's. I thought it looked delicious but hunting for a picture, I found it was not original to her although she may have made adaptations.

It is hot for NC, but not unheard of Denise. We lived there for 12 years and one got some pretty hot temps. Never too cold in winter though, at least, not where we lived although we did get 18 inches of snow one Christmas.

Not a fan of that weather at all. Today is just glorious here on the Cape and I'm off to shoot pics in my hometown. There have been a lot of shark issues here thanks to the huge population of seals that have taken over, esp. in the Chatham area.

Can't imagine why anyone would want to cook asparagus for 25 minutes. About the shark attacks, while they are horrible and my heart goes out to anyone who might be attacked and their families and friends, it made me think how odd it is that we happily take our chances on the road where there are so many car fatalities but are so afraid of shark attacks which are really rare in comparison.

I can't take the heat-I never could. I have a hard time to sweat so my body overheats. Humidity is even worse. I have heard about the shark attacks and we watched CNN the other night and one expert said that people who have swam in the ocean have, guaranteed, been within 6 feet of a shark!! I don't care if they are just roaming around, that is too close for me! My Aunt loves the ocean and when she was on her honeymoon in the late 60's off the beach in the south of France I believe, she swam way out and she saw my Uncle waving and others waving so she waved back. When she came in, my Uncle told her there was a shark closing in on her and they were all trying to wave her back to shore (like that would help). Just when it looked like the shark was right on top of her, the shark veered off. This story still gives me the shivers.

I tend to overheat easily too Birgit. Matt, who used to scuba dive, has swum with sharks before now. He thinks they are wonderful. Not too many sharks in the Med but as a fisherman in Nice told me, it only takes one.

The asparagus sounds like a quick tasty meal to serve. I'll have to try this one out. Shame about the beaches. Maybe if they erected toughened steel nets in the sea from end to end that might keep the sharks at bay.

They suspect it's one rogue bull or tiger shark. A friend who has been in a helicopter over the beach says if you knew how many sharks were in the Carolina waters you would never go in the water. Needless to say, I don't.

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About Me

Happily married for 44 years, originally from the UK, living in Canada now. Interested in cooking, reading and wildlife conservation. Read more at http://satimaflavell.blogspot.ca/2009/02/fresh-fields-reading-and-recipes.html